How It Could Have Been
by thebonron
Summary: What would happen if Dan had picked Karen and not Deb? The couple is living in Tree Hill, raising their two kids- Lucas and Nathan. But one day Deb comes back and threatens to break up their family.
1. Prologue

Prologue:

Dan Scott and Karen Roe had been dating each other ever since junior year. They were even voted best couple for the yearbook. And it was true that they were pretty happy together, but as we all know, all love stories have their fair share of obstacles, and theirs was no exception.

The first bump in the road came at the beginning of the first year of college when Karen discovered that she was pregnant. Scared and not knowing what to do, she confided everything to Dan, one rainy afternoon in October. Dan was as shocked as Karen had been and they had spent many days sitting together and pondering over what to do next. Eventually, they decided that giving the baby up was something that neither of them could come to terms with, so, despite the anger the came from both sides of the family, Dan and Karen married and moved into a small apartment shortly before the baby was born.

The following summer Karen gave birth to a baby Lucas. Karen and Dan fell in love with the baby boy immediately, basking in all the joys that came with being a parent. Nevertheless, raising a child so young and with such little money, proved to be increasingly difficult. There was always so much that needed to be done. It was as if the couple was forced to grow up prematurely, to give up the fun that came with being young and carefree.

One day, after a particularly nasty fight with Karen, Dan went to a drive. Feeling sorry for himself, he drove to the nearest bar. There he ran into his old friend from high school, Deb Lee and ended up telling her everything about what led him to end up at that bar, alone on a weekday. Deb sympathized with Dan and the two proceeded to get embarrassingly drunk. One way or another, the pair ended up going back to Dan's car, where they spent the next hour and a half.

That night, Dan went back home, appalled at what he had just done. A dishevelled Karen waited for him, apologizing for all the things she had said during their fight. She looked so sorry and so upset, that Dan didn't have the heart to tell her what he had been doing earlier that night. The couple made up and went on living much like they had always lived, except for Dan's ever present feeling of guilt. However, Dan was convinced that Karen would divorce him and never let him near Lucas again if she found out the truth, so he decided to forget about what had happened and never bring it up again. But then, two months later, Dan got the phone call that changed his life.

"I'm pregnant," Deb cried over the phone.

There was no way around it- Dan was forced to tell Karen what had happened. Karen reacted much like Dan expected her to react. She screamed and yelled and then she took Lucas and went back to her parents' house. Dan pleaded with Karen, begging her to forgive him and move on, but Karen was set on shutting Dan out of her life.

Meanwhile, Deb was also busy making plans concerning the rest of her life. One day, after Dan had spent a few days living alone in the small apartment, they met up over coffee.

"Dan, I have something to tell you," Deb said. "I'm not going to keep the baby."

"What?" Dan started. "No, you can't give him up for adoption."

"I'm not putting him up for abortion," Deb replied, gazing intently at Dan.

"What? No! That's even worse!" Dan cried.

"Dan, I'm sorry, but what else can I do? I want to pursue my career after I graduate from college. A baby would throw everything off balance."

"And you don't feel guilty doing this?"

"Of course, I do, but I have to think about my future here," Deb sighed.

"What about the baby's future?" Dan asked sullenly.

"What can I do?" Deb repeated, also looking sad.

"Wait," Dan said, an idea suddenly coming to him. "Deb, I know this might be a lot to ask, but what if I took the baby after it was born."

"Don't be ridiculous!" Deb blurted out.

"Why not? I already have one kid. Another one couldn't be that hard."

"As far as I recall, what happened between was because you were trying to get away from that kid," Deb pointed out.

"I was stupid," Dan sighed. "I didn't think about what was truly important. But now..."

"Dan, what makes you think Karen would ever agree to something like this?"

"Because I know the woman I married," Dan said, with an air of finality.

That night, Dan drove up to Karen's parents' house. Walking up the front porch, he was desperately trying to calm his racing heart. Dan rang the doorbell once, praying desperately that it was Karen, and not one of her parents, that answered.

"Karen," Dan said after seeing her open the door, a baby Lucas in her arms. "I know what I did was wrong..."

"Go away, Dan," Karen cut him off.

"No, Karen, please, just hear me out. Listen to what I have to say," Dan begged.

That is how, on one unusually warm day in late September, Nathan Scott was born. Dan had convinced Deb to carry him out until her due date, after which he and Karen would take the boy. Deb would move away to live with her parents, who had bought a condo in Florida- she would play no role in Nathan's life. That was exactly how she wanted it to be.

Karen spent a lot of time talking to Dan and finally decided that she still loved him despite everything he had done. She moved back in with Dan and agreed to raise Nathan as if he were her own. In fact, the only people to know that Nathan wasn't her biological child would be her and Dan. Karen adopted Nathan as soon as he was born. That day, she stood in the hospital with a new born Nathan in her arms, cuddling him softly.

"Hi, Nathan," she cooed. "I'm your mommy."


	2. Meet the Scotts

16 years later...

Nathan sat at the kitchen table, struggling with his English homework. Nathan often had trouble with his homework, mostly because he found concentrating in class difficult. Karen saw Nathan staring at his worksheet, looking confused. "Sweetie, do you not understand the assignment?" she asked. "Not really," Nathan admitted. "I don't know what to do." "Well, let's see if I can help. What don't you get?" "Anything! Like what's the difference between a simile and a metaphor?" "A simile's a comparison, using the words _like_ or _as_," Karen explained. "For example, 'her eyes are as green as a forest' would be an example of a simile." "I see," Nathan nodded. "Then what's a metaphor?" "Metaphor's are a bit harder. They compare things without using _like_ or _as_. For example, if I said that the day has been an emotional roller coaster, I'd be using a metaphor. Do you get it?" "Sort of," Nathan nodded. "Thanks, Mom." "Well, try doing the worksheet again and I'll check over it after dinner," Karen promised. Right at that moment, Lucas came into the room. "Nate, are you still working on that?" he asked. "I was learning the same thing last year- Sophomore English is so easy, how can you not get it? Are you, like, retarded?" "No," Nathan retorted. "But you're definitely an ass." "Boys, that's enough," Karen intervened. "Lucas, not everybody does as well as you do at school. Everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses and I will not tolerate you rubbing that in people's faces. Nathan, you don't have to have a rude comeback every time someone says something you don't like you." "But..." both boys said at the same time. "No buts. Lucas, can you start setting the table, please? Nathan, go back to your worksheet." "Fine," the boys mumbled. Bickering was nothing new in the Scott household- Lucas and Nathan did it all the time. Still, with only a year difference between the boys, they were pretty close. Despite arguing about almost everything at home, the boys shared a common love of basketball-they were both the star players of the school senior team.

A little while later Dan had come home with Chinese take-out. The family of four sat at the dinner table, eating dinner. "Luke, put away the phone," Karen looked at her oldest son. "You can text Brooke after dinner." "But Mom," Luke started, even though he knew that arguing with his mom was pretty much useless. "Son, your mother's right," Dan interrupted. "We don't spend enough time as a family as it is. Texting can be done after dinner."

"What, scared that Brooke won't give you any if you don't text her?" Nathan grinned. "Nathan, watch it," Dan warned. "If I remember correctly I have to pry the phone away from you every time you talk to Peyton."

Nathan looked down at his plate, not saying anything so as not to anger Dan.  
"Now boys," Dan started, looking at Nathan and at Lucas. "I talked to Whitey and I know that you have a big game coming up. I want you both to shoot at least ten points."

"Dan," Karen put her hand on her husband's arm. "The boys are under enough stress as it is- don't add to it."

Dan was also passionate about basketball. In fact, he had his NBA career lined out for him right after high school right up until an injury put an end to his dream. That is why Dan wanted his boys to excel at basketball- to live his dream through them. He often pushed Nathan and Lucas a little too hard before a big game. But that was when Karen stepped in and reminded him that a game was in the end... just a game.

After dinner, the boys helped Karen clean up before plopping down in front of the TV. Lucas went to bed soon after, while Nathan stuck around for another hour, watching TV and texting Peyton.

"Nate?" A couple of hours later Karen came up to her son, who yawned in response. "Nathan, enough is enough. Go to bed." Nathan must have been too tired to argue, because he simply said, "OK, Mom." "Good night, baby. I love you," Karen said. "Night, Son," Dan, who had also been watching television added. "Good night, Mom, good night, Dad" Nathan replied. "I love you too."

After Nathan disappeared upstairs Dan came up to Karen.

"Nathan looks and acts so much like you," he said.

"I know," Karen smiled. "It's hard to believe I didn't give birth to him."

"He's your son, Karen," Dan said firmly. "No matter what."

"I know," Karen replied. "I was blessed with two great sons."


	3. Deb Comes In

The next day, during the break at school, Nathan came up to Lucas's locker.

"Hey, Luke," he said. "Tell Whitey I won't be able to come to practice."

"What the hell, Nate?" Lucas hollered. "We have a game coming up!"

"You think I want to miss practice?" Nathan shot back. "I have to be in detention until four!"

"What did you do?" Lucas asked, half-curious.

"I fell asleep in class," Nathan admitted. "Apparently Mr. Kelly called on me like four times before I woke up."

"That's beautiful," Lucas said sarcastically. "Just great. And all because you wouldn't stop texting Peyton."

"Whitey's going to kill me, I know," Lucas sighed.

"Not just Whitey- Dad won't be too happy either."

"That's where I was hoping that he wouldn't find out," Nathan said. "I mean, Mom picks us up at four-thirty. Unless Dad talks to Whitey in the next few days, he won't find anything out."

"Unless of course, you're planning on ratting me out," Nate added.

"I might not," Lucas smiled evilly. "If you do some of my chores for me..."

"Luke, don't be a jerk," Nate looked at him pleadingly.

"Fine," Lucas sighed. "If Dad ever finds out about you missing practice, it won't be from me. And that is only because I love you, little bro."

"Thanks, Luke," Nathan said quietly. At that very moment Peyton came up to the boys.

"Hey," she said.

"Hey," Nathan nodded.

"I was thinking of coming down and watching you practice today," Peyton smiled.

"I won't be there," Nathan admitted and told Peyton what he had just told Lucas.

"Sweetie," Peyton whined. "That's unfair. But do you want me to do something stupid and get into detention with you? I mean, it is half my fault that you fell asleep."

"That's sweet, Pey, but no," Nathan replied. "There's no use both of us getting in trouble- it'll go on your record."

"Alright," Peyton agreed. "But I do want to see you. Maybe I'll stop by your mom's cafe later tonight."

"I'll be there," Nathan smiled just as the bell rang.

"Gotta go," Peyton picked up her backpack. "Brooke and I have art next."

"I wish we had more classes together," Nathan started, but Peyton was already gone.

After school ended that afternoon, Lucas went to basketball practice while Nathan slumped all the way to detention. At four-thirty, the brothers met up in front of the school.

"How was practice?" Nathan asked.

"Fine," Lucas replied. "Except for the fact that Whitey was pissed that you didn't show up. You better pray that he doesn't call Dad. Anyways, how was detention?"

Nathan glared at his older brother. "How do you think it was? I had to spend an hour and a half listening to Ms. Camden talk about respect."

"I'm sorry, bro," Luke said, laughing a bit.

"Whatever. Look, there's Mom," Nathan pointed to Karen's car.

"Hi, Boys," Karen said as Lucas and Nate climbed into the vehicle. "How was practice?"

"Fine," Lucas replied, so as not to invite any more questions.

"Alright. Well, I have to go to the cafe, so I could drop you off at home or you could come help me out at the cafe. What do you want to do?"

Karen owned a small cafe called... Karen's Cafe. Being both the founder and the manager, there was always plenty to do. The boys helped her out sometimes, but most often they just came down to the cafe after practice and ate and did their homework there for about an hour or until Karen was ready to give them a ride home.

"Let's go to the cafe," Nathan answered quickly.

"You seem eager," Karen observed.

"I wonder why," Lucas mumbled.

"What's that, Luke?" Karen asked.

"I just said that there is a reason why Nathan is so eager to get to the cafe."

"And what is that reason, Nathan?" Karen turned around to look at Nate.

"Peyton said she might stop by," Nathan said, shooting Lucas murderous glances.

"That's cool," Karen said.

"What?" both Lucas and Nathan shot up.

"Well, I'd rather have you guys here where I can keep an eye on you than God-knows-where else. Lucas, you're welcome to hang out with Brooke at the cafe too, if you want to."

"Awesome," Lucas smiled. "You're a cool mom."

"Yeah," Nathan agreed.

"Well, I'm glad you think so," Karen smiled. "Now get out of the car- we're here!"

Once at the cafe, Luke and Nate sat down to eat. Nathan quickly gobbled up his sandwich and started on the fries. Right at that moment, the door to the cafe opened and a middle-aged blonde woman came in and sat down next to Nathan.

"Is this Karen's Cafe?" she asked.

"Yes," Nathan said cautiously. After all, how do you not know what you're walking into?

"Oh. And who owns this place?"

"Karen Scott," Lucas stepped in. "She's our mom."

"Your mom..." the woman seemed to think this over. "Wait, is this also the wife of Dan Scott?"

"Yes," Lucas replied. "And you are?"

"My name is Deb," the woman replied after a pause. "I'm new in this town and I knew your parents from a long time ago."

"Oh," Nate said. "Well, Mom's just in the back, I could get her if you want..."

"No!" Deb jerked up hastily. "That won't be necessary. I'll come here some other time." She got up and left the cafe.

"Weird," Nathan said to Lucas. "She didn't even order anything."

"Whatever, man," Lucas replied, in between bites of club sandwich. "She's probably a nutcase."

"Well, let's ask Mom if she knows anyone named Deb later," Nathan said.

At that very moment the door to the cafe opened once more and Peyton waltzed in.

"Hi!" she greeted the boys. "Good to see you here!"

"Hi, Peyton," Nathan said shyly.

Nathan and Peyton had a weird situation going on. They hung out at school a lot and sometimes even grabbed a bite together, but they weren't an official couple like Lucas and Brooke were yet. Nathan was desperately hoping to change that, even if he was sort of shy when it came to girls.

"So, what's up?" Peyton sat down next to Nathan. "How was detention?"

"Sh, Peyton," Nathan said. "My mom doesn't know- she thinks I went to practice with Luke."

"A secret," Peyton replied coyly. "That's cool."

"Not cool, if Dad ever finds out," Luke added.

Luke, Nate and Peyton hung out in the cafe for another hour, after which Peyton said that she had to go home. Soon after that Karen said that she was also ready to go home.

"Haley, you can close for me, right?" Karen asked Haley James, a girl that she hired as a waitress. "Come on, boys."

As they were driving home, Nathan suddenly remembered the strange woman at the cafe.

"Hey, Mom?" he asked.

"Yes, Nate?"

"Do you know anyone named Deb?"

Karen's knuckles went white around the wheel.

"Why-why do you ask?"

"It's just that this woman named came into the cafe today and asked us who owned the cafe and stuff. She said that she knew you and Dad from a long time ago."

"What else did she say?" Karen asked blankly.

"That's pretty much all," Lucas responded for Nathan.

"Boys, I want you to tell me if she ever decides to come into the cafe again. And if she tries to talk to you, just ignore her."

"Why, who is she?" Nathan asked.

"Just some friend of your father's from a really long time ago. We had a big fight back in the day. She's not important."

"But if she's not important, why would you want us to let you know if she comes into the cafe again?" Nathan kept on pushing.

"Nate, let it be. Just do as I tell you, please, and don't ask any more questions!"

"Um, okay," Nate sank back a bit. His mother hardly ever talked so sharply with him.

"I'm sorry, Nate," Karen looked back at her youngest. "I didn't mean to snap. It's just that I'm a bit stressed out right now. So, please just do what I ask you to do."

"Sure, Mom," Nathan replied. "I'm sorry too."

"It's okay," Karen said while pulling into their driveway. "Now, go on upstairs, boys. I need to talk to your father."

But that talk would have to be delayed because as soon as Karen, Lucas and Nathan walked into the door, Dan came up to them, looking really mad.

"Nathan Royal Scott!" he screamed. "I ran into Whitey at the gas station today and guess what he's told me!"

"You are so dead," Lucas whispered into Nathan's ear.


	4. Surprises

"Dad?" Nathan asked nervously. "You ran into Whitey?"

"Yes, I ran into Whitey!" Dan roared. "And apparently you haven't been to practice today because you were in detention!"

"Dad, it's not my fault," Nathan said feebly.

"Oh yeah? And whose fault is it?" Dan pushed.

"Dan, let him come inside," Karen interjected. "And it'd be great if you'd just let it go for now, because I really need to talk to you."

"Nathan, do you not care that you have a major game coming up?" Dan acted as if he had not even heard Karen.

"Dad, I'm sorry, but it's just one practice!"

"Why were you even in detention?"

"Dan!" Karen yelled. "Did you not hear me? I need to talk to you!"

"Fine. Boys, go upstairs please. Nathan, this isn't over."

Nathan and Lucas both took this opportunity to get away.

"What is it, Karen?" Dan asked impatiently.

"Dan, a woman named Deb came up to the boys in the cafe today."

"What?" Dan looked at his wife in disbelief.

"Yes," she talked to them for a bit.

"Did she say anything?" Dan asked.

"What do you think?" Karen asked. "I think Nathan would have said something by now if he had just found out that he's adopted."

"Well, I didn't even give him a chance to say anything," Dan said quietly. "God, I just attacked him as soon as he walked in the door."

"Exactly," Karen said. "You're too hard on the boys, Dan. Cut them some slack."

"Did you know about detention?"

"No and I am not surprised. You know, Dan, if you were easier on them, they'd feel more comfortable opening up to us."

"I'll talk to them. Maybe even apologize," Dan joked. "But seriously, what are we going to do about Deb?"

"I don't know..." Karen thought out loud.

Meanwhile Luke and Nathan were upstairs, standing in front of their rooms, not really moving.

"Dad seemed mad," Luke finally said.

"No." Nathan said sarcastically.

"That sucks, dude," Lucas said. "Maybe it'll blow over."

"Yeah right. He's probably deciding how long I'm grounded for right now."

"Mom will probably lighten your punishment."

"Maybe... I wonder what they're talking about right now."

"I don't know... basketball?" Luke threw the obvious out there.

"I'll go down and listen in," Nathan said.

"Dude, way to act like a thirteen-year old girl," Luke told his brother.

"Whatever man, I'm doing this," Nate said and went down the stairs.

Karen and Dan were still downstairs, thinking about Deb.

"I wonder what she's even doing here," Karen said.

"No idea," Dan replied. "But let's hope that's the last we've heard of her."

"Don't be so sure. This could easily turn very bad. I mean, what if she demands custody of Nathan?"

"She can't do that," Dan tried to reassure his wife. "You're his legal parent."

"But I didn't give birth to Nathan," Karen said. "They could hold that against me, can't they?"

Suddenly Dan and Karen heard a movement coming from behind them. They turned around and saw Nathan, coming down the stairs, looking appalled.

"What's going on?" Nathan looked from parent to parent. "I'm adopted?"

"Oh God," Karen stared ahead. "Oh God. Nathan, how much did you hear?"

"Enough." Nathan said simply. "But you didn't answer me. I'm adopted?"

"Sort of," Karen admitted. "Dan is your biological father. But I didn't give birth to you."

"What?!" Nathan said. "But..."

"I've adopted you the day you were born," Karen said to him. "I hoped you'd never find out..."

"But... Lucas is older than me. Is he adopted too?"

"No," Dan said cautiously. "Your mother gave birth to Lucas."

"But... how does that work?"

"Alright Nathan, we'll tell you everything as it is," Karen said. "Shortly after Lucas was born, your father cheated on me and got another woman pregnant. The woman didn't want to keep you but your father convinced her to carry you until her due date, after which he'd take you. After a while, we made up and decided to raise you together, with Lucas."

"You cheated on Mom?" Nathan looked at Dan.

"Nathan, it was years ago. It's all over now. You're our son."

"Who's my biological mother?" Nathan asked.

"Nate, it doesn't really matter," Dan started.

"Dan, we might as well just tell him now. It's Deb," Karen said.

"What Deb?" Nathan thought for a second. "The Deb from the restaurant?!"

"Yes. Imagine our shock when we saw her."

"If you'd have told me the truth right away, it wouldn't have been such a shock," Nathan said bitterly.

"God, Nathan, please don't be upset. We kept this from you because there was no reason for you to know anything. You're my son, you always have been."

Suddenly Lucas came downstairs. "Why are you all down here for so long?" he asked. "Did something happen?"

"Yes," Dan said. "Sit down."

"Did I do something?" Lucas asked.

That's when they told Lucas what they had just told Nathan.

"So, we're half brothers?" Lucas asked.

"Yes, biologically. But you are both my boys." Karen gave them each a side hug.

"You lied to me!" Nathan jerked away.

"Nathan, try to understand, please. We did what was best."

"I don't care. You could have told me!" Nathan shouted and went up to his room, slamming the door.


	5. Talking

"I'll go talk to him," Dan said after Nathan ran upstairs.

"No," Karen said. "Leave him for a little while. He's shocked and needs time to get over it."

"I've had a shock too," Lucas said. "Nathan's my half brother?"

"Biologically, yes," Karen explained. "But honey, it shouldn't change anything."

"I know Mom, but it's still weird," Lucas said. "You guys could have told us the truth, you know."

"Sweetie, we'll talk about all of this in depth, but I think that we all just need to cool down. So how about you go out and play some basketball with Nathan, get him to calm down a bit."

At that moment Nathan came downstairs again, wearing his varsity jacket, and headed toward the door.

"Where are you going?" Dan asked.

"Out."

"Out where?"

"Why do you care?" Nathan retorted.

"Nathan Scott! You better watch your tone and your attitude," Dan warned.

"Or you'll what? Disown me? Give me back to that blonde woman?"

"Nathan! I'm telling you for the last time..."

"Whatever, jackass."

That obviously crossed the line. "Listen Nathan," Dan yelled as he came up to him. "We are your parents and you cannot talk to us this way. And if you're not going to respect us, you'll face the consequences. Go up to your room. Your ass is grounded. School, practice and tutoring- that's it. Nothing else for two weeks."

"Dan," Karen came in. "It's been a rough day. Maybe we could all just sit down and talk..."

"But Dad," Nathan started. "I have a date with Peyton on Friday."

"Don't care," Dan said. "You'll be cleaning out the garage that night. And Karen, rough night or not, he needs to learn to respect us."

"I hate you," Nathan said right before going up to his room once more.

"Dan!" Karen started as soon as Nathan was gone. "What was that?"

"Dad, that was harsh," Lucas added.

"I don't know anymore..." Dan said, rubbing his temples. "I need a drink."

"I'll go talk to Nathan," Karen said, leaving Dan and Lucas in the living room.

Karen went up the stairs to her younger son's room and knocked on the door. When there was no answer, she opened the door, asking "Can I come in?"

"Whatever," Nathan replied, lying on his bed and facing the wall.

"Sweetie, we need to talk," Karen sat down next to Nathan. "I know that you're upset..."

"You sure catch on quickly, Mom."

"Nate, seriously, you have to watch the attitude. But just so you know, all that you found out today changes nothing. You're still my son, my baby, my Natey."

"But Mom, how can it change nothing? I'm adopted!"

"So what?" Karen looked at Nate. "I'm your mom, just like I've always been. I raised you, I love you."

"Not as much as Lucas, though."

"Nathan, you're a smart kid, but that is just about the dumbest thing I've ever heard you say," Karen looked at her son. "You're my boys. I love you both very, very much."

"But I'm not your real kid," Nathan said.

"Yes, you are. You're my son. You're the little boy who ran into my room in the middle of the night every time there was a thunderstorm."

"Mom!" Nathan laughed. "I thought we wouldn't speak of this."

"Hey, it's not like I mentioned this in front of the basketball team. Just you and me, kiddo."

Nathan laughed quietly then looked at Karen. "Mom? I'm sorry I was so rude to you today."

"It's not me you should apologize to, Nathan," Karen looked at her son. "We've all said a lot today, some of which we'd love to take back."

"I'll apologize when he does."

"Nathan, I can't force you to do anything. And I sure can't force your father to do anything. You are both so stubborn. I'm just saying that maybe you're the one that needs to step up this time."

"I'm still mad at Dad, Mom," Nathan stated.

"I'll leave you to think about it," Karen said. "It's been a rough day for all of us."

"Mom?" Nathan looked at Karen. "I still have a lot of questions about Deb and stuff."

"I'll tell you what. You and I will spend an afternoon together, and I'll tell you everything. When do you not have practice?"

"Tomorrow," Nathan said.

"Perfect. We'll go to the mall, because you desperately need new shoes. Look at those," Karen pointed to Nathan's sneakers, all dirty and beaten up. "I think it's time for new ones."

"I guess they do look kind of bad, don't they?" Nathan laughed. "But wait, I thought I was grounded?"

"I just might talk your father out of grounding you," Karen looked at Nate. "I wouldn't want you to miss that date with Peyton."

"Really?"

"Yeah. But you have to promise me you'll talk to Dad about all the things that you said."

"OK, Mom," Nathan mumbled. "I love you."

"I love you too," Karen lightly kissed Nathan on the top of the head. "I'll be downstairs. Don't forget what you promised me."


	6. Figuring Things Out

Nathan felt a bit better after his talk with Karen. But later that night, he began to get angry again. Angry at his dad for cheating on his mom. Angry at both his parents for keeping this a secret. Later that night Nathan decided that he desperately needed to talk to someone, but because he didn't want to talk to anyone in his family at the moment, he called Peyton.

"Hey, Peyton," he said. "Can we talk?"

"Sure, babe. What's up?"

"I, um, I just found out that I'm adopted."

"What do you mean, adopted?"

"My mom didn't give birth to me- Dad cheated on Mom and got some other girl pregnant. She wanted to abort me, but my dad took me and my mom adopted me."

"Wow, Nate, that's a lot of new info for one day," Peyton sighed over the phone.

"Yeah. I'm kind of mad at both of them."

"For not telling you?"

"Not just that. I mean, Dad _cheated _on Mom."

"Nathan, he's human. Stuff like this happens all the time. It was your Mom's decisions whether or not to forgive him, not yours. This all happened before you were born- let it go. And about the being mad thing, you might not want to hear this right now, but they did do what they thought was right. Knowing that you were adopted when you were little would have just complicated things."

"I don't know, Peyton."

"Nate, I don't want to try to convince you of anything, but just think about what I said. How would your life have been different if you would have known?"

"I don't know," Nathan mused.

"Nathan, I know about adoption better than anyone- I was adopted myself. So if I can tell you one thing- it's not about who gave birth to you, it's about who raised you and cared for you after that."

"Maybe you're right, Pey," Nathan agreed. "But still, they lied to me..."

Nathan and Peyton talked about things for another half an hour until Lucas came in to his room and motioned for Nathan to get off the phone.

"Listen, Peyton, I have to go," Nathan said.

"Sure. Bye, Nate," Peyton hung up.

"I need the phone," Lucas said.

"Use your cell phone."

"I've already used up all my minutes. Dad will kill me when the bill comes."

"How is that my problem?" Nathan asked.

"It's so weird about Mom, right?" Lucas suddenly changed topics.

"Yeah... Why?"

"Nathan, I know you're in shock, so I won't get on your case. I just wanted to say that this doesn't change anything. You're still my annoying as hell little brother."

"Gee, Luke, thanks," Nathan said, but he laughed a bit at the end.

"No problem, little brother," Luke laughed.

"Only by like a year," Nathan protested.

"Still younger," Lucas stated. "Now give me the phone."

At about eleven, Nathan went to bed. He found himself staring at the ceiling for a long time, though, not being able to get to sleep. Thoughts kept swirling around in his head. _This is ridiculous_, Nathan thought and decided to go downstairs to get himself a glass of water.

Once downstairs, Nathan also helped himself to some cookies. He was normally not allowed to raid the refrigerator at night, but Nathan did so extra quietly, hoping not to wake anyone else.

"Looks like I'm not the only one who had trouble sleeping," Nathan heard Dan's voice and nearly dropped his glass in shock.

"Dad! I was just..."

"I know," Dan interrupted. "So was I."

"Couldn't sleep?" Nathan asked, relieved to be off the hook.

"Yeah. Kept on thinking about some of the things I've said."

"About that. Dad, I'm really sorry about what I said to you. I didn't mean it I was just mad."

"I know, Nate," Dan sat down on a kitchen stool. "We were both pretty mad. Please just try to think about what you say next time."

"OK, Dad," Nathan said in a small voice.

"Son, I have some apologies to make too. I snapped at you when you were frustrated and upset. And I sure as hell shouldn't have grounded you. So you are now officially ungrounded. But Nathan, if you ever say that you hate me again, you will not be seeing the light of day for a long, long time."

"Thanks, Dad. Did Mom talk to you?"

"A little. You know how convincing your mother is."

"Dad?" Nathan changed gears. "Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

"Nathan, you might not understand this now, but it seemed like the right thing to do. We wanted you and Lucas to grow up like real brothers, without any additional rivalry."

"But there are lots of adopted brothers and sisters that get along great."

"Maybe. But I doubt that they are so close in age and share the same Dad."

"You sure had some fun back in the day, Dad."

"Watch it, Nate."

"Watching. Anyways, Dad, I'm still kind of upset with you for not telling me."

"I can't change that. Maybe you'll understand one day, maybe you won't. But the way you're going about this is really mature. I'm proud of you."

"Thanks, Dad," Nathan said. "And thanks for ungrounding me."

"No problem. Now go to bed. It's late enough as it is."

"One more thing, Dad," Nathan added. "Can I ever talk with Deb?"


	7. Custody

Dan looked at Nathan.

"You want to talk to Deb? About what?"

"Just stuff. I want to ask her why she gave me up."

"Nathan, I'm not sure that's a good idea. She gave you up because she didn't want you. That won't change now."

"Dad, please? I'd think that I deserve to be able to talk to my birth mom."

"Your mother and I will talk about it. But I'm not promising you anything, Nathan."

"You and Deb will talk about it?" Nathan asked.

"Me and Karen," Dan sighed. "Your real mom."

"I know," Nathan said. "It's just the way you said it, it was a bit confusing."

"Alright, Nate, go to bed," Dan said. "We'll talk about this more in the morning."

They didn't talk about it more in the morning because Dan left the house to go to work early. As Nathan and Lucas were sitting at the kitchen island eating toast, Karen came in.

"Hi boys," she said. "How'd you sleep?"

"Fine," Nathan said. "Did Dad talk to you?"

"Yes, he said something about you wanting to talk to Deb. He sounded pretty against it, though."

"So it's a no?" Nathan asked.

"I didn't say that, Nate. I personally think that you deserve to talk to your birth mom. But your father is a different story. So we'll talk about it more later."

"Fine," Nathan said. "Whatever."

"Why do you want to talk to her anyway?" Lucas asked. "Didn't she like, abandon you?"

"Shut up, Luke," Nathan said. "You'd do the same in my shoes."

"Finish up your breakfast and I'll drive you to school," Karen said. "Nathan, don't worry. We'll come back to the subject. And you and I both know that in the end, we can't keep you from talking to her."

"I guess," Nathan said. "Can I drive?"

"Can _I _drive?" Lucas asked.

"No," Karen replied. "Not to the school- there's too many cars there. I'll take both of you out to some side streets on the weekend, OK?"

The boys nodded and got into the car.

Once at school, Lucas and Nathan went their separate ways. Lucas had English first block, while Nathan had art. The only reason he had taken that class was to be in the same class as Peyton, back when they were just crushing on each other.

"Hi stranger," Peyton came into the art room and sat down on a stool next to Nathan. "What's up?"

"Stuff," Nathan said. "I'm not really in the mood to talk about it."

"OK..." Peyton said. "Did you have a fight with your Dad?"

"No. Peyton I don't want to talk about it, OK?"

"Fine," Peyton said and the two sat without talking to each other until the teacher, Mr. Moss came in.

"Hello, class," he said. "How are you today?"

The class mumbled something in response.

"Today, we'll begin the project I was talking about- self-portraits. You have almost no limitations... You can draw it, paint it, sculpt it..."

"I'm sorry, Pey," Nathan whispered over the teacher. "I'm just a bit on edge with all the stuff going on at home."

"I know, Nate," Peyton whispered back. "I'm not mad. Just try not to take all of your anger out on me."

"I'm sorry, Peyton," Nathan said again. "It's just that things are so messed up at home."

"You need to relax, let loose," Peyton smiled. "How about we..."

"Mr. Scott. Ms. Sawyer," Peyton was interrupted by the teacher. "Am I interrupting you two?"

"Sorry," Peyton mumbled.

"This is the second time I've told you to stop talking. Nathan, please change seats with Alice."

"But, Mr. Moss!" Peyton protested. "This is art class!"

"Exactly. You kids seem to think that this is a free block for you to fool around and talk. Well, it isn't. Art is as important as any other class. Nathan, you've heard me."

Nathan sighed and moved to the other side of the class. Immediately after he left, Peyton started scribbling him a note. After she was done, she discretely asked several people to pass it to Nathan.

The note said: _Isn't Mr. Moss a tool? You and me, Starbucks next block? _

Nathan read it, smiled and nodded. Hanging out with his girlfriend instead of sitting in class was just what the doctor ordered. The only problem was that Lucas had the same class as him second block, so he'd have to do him some to ensure that his parents didn't find out that he had skipped. But it was all worth it, Nathan decided.

The rest of class went by painfully slowly, even for Peyton who liked art. Finally when the bell rang, Peyton and Nathan met up in the hallway.

"So? We're ditching next class and going to Starbucks?" Nathan asked.

"Yeah. Except, Nate, I don't want you to fall too much behind. What class do you have next?"

"Nothing important. Just math."

Peyton tried to give Nathan an angry look, but burst out laughing instead. "Well, one missed class isn't going to mess up your year. Let's go. I'm kind of hungry, so how about we go to the cafe instead of Starbucks?"

"Peyton!" Nathan exclaimed. "You're not actually suggesting we go to _Karen's Cafe_, as in Karen, my mother!"

"Oops. I forgot about that for a second. Well, let's go to McDonald's or something."

Nathan and Peyton walked out of the school holding hands. Just as they were approaching the little road that led to the nearest plaza, Nathan elbowed Peyton.

"Peyton," he whispered. "Look at that woman, coming towards us."

"So?"

"She's my birth mom."

"What?" Peyton whispered, but the woman was already too close for them to talk about it.

"Nathan," Deb said. "Shouldn't you be in school?"

"Yeah, I should. What are you doing here?" Nathan asked.

"I'm staying here for a while. My best friend's house is right next to the school."

"Listen, Deb, my parents told me everything."

"So you know?"

"Yeah."

"Well, it was time your parents told you the truth."

"I guess. I'm not sure they want me talking to you, though."

"Nathan, maybe we should go," Peyton said gently, but Nathan remained in the same spot, not moving an inch.

"Why not? I am your mother, after all," Deb looked at Nathan.

"No, Karen is my mother. You abandoned me."

"I made a mistake. But I'm looking to correct that. What would you say to living with me now?"

"What the hell?" was all Nathan could utter.

"Yes. Kids should live with their birth mom. Besides, Dan and Karen already have that other boy of theirs. "

"No," Nathan said. "Leave me alone. You're not my mother and you never have been."

"That's where you're wrong, Nate," Deb smiled an odd smile. "I'm your birth mom, so I have a right to file for custody. And that's what I'll do. I'll stop at nothing to get full custody of you."

"What if I don't want that?" Nathan asked.

"You don't have a choice. Besides, I'm sure that you'll change your mind later. I'll see you soon, Nathan," Deb said, turned around and started walking in the other direction.

Nathan just stood in the same spot, immobilized, squeezing Peyton's hand. Peyton could feel Nathan shaking slightly.

"Nathan?" Peyton asked. "Are you OK?"

Nathan turned around to face her and Peyton could see a lone tear make its way down Nathan's cheek.


	8. Feelings

Nathan quickly wiped at his cheek, embarrassed.

"Are you alright, Nathan?" Peyton asked again. "That was insane."

"Fine, fine," he said quickly. "Let's go."

"Go where? We won't make it to the plaza and back now."

"All I know is that I can't go back to school and sit through three more classes knowing that Deb wants to get custody of me."

"Nathan," Peyton said. "I know that this has been a crazy day, but you can't skip all of your classes _and _practice. Whitey will definitely call your house."

"I don't care," Nathan said. "I just have to get out of here."

"Nathan. We have about twenty minutes until the bell rings. Let's just sit and talk for a while. I'm sure you need someone to talk to right now."

"Actually, I don't. What I need is to get the hell out of here."

"No, Nathan. We are not skipping the whole day."

"You can't tell me what to do, Peyton."

"You're right, I can't. But if you decide to ditch class for the whole day, you'll be doing it alone."

"Fine!" Nathan yelled. "Do what you want!"

"I'm going back to school, Nathan," Peyton said as Nathan stared at her. "Nathan, try to understand. I'm trying to help you here. Getting suspended is not what you need right now."

"You have no idea what I need right now!"

"Alright, Nathan, if that's the way it's going to be, then you can call me when you've calmed down."

Nathan turned around and punched the nearest brick wall. Of course, that did nothing but shoot waves of sharp pain throughout his hand. After a few minutes of swearing, Nathan started walking towards the plaza.

The walk there was just long enough for Nathan to begin to regret fighting with Peyton. _Why did I do that? _He asked himself. _ I am such an idiot._

Once he reached the plaza, Nathan had no idea what to do next. In fact, the only reason he had come here was to get away from Deb. Once at the plaza, he had nothing to do, especially by himself. After contemplating what he should do next for a few minutes, Nathan decided that he'd think better with a slushie, so he walked into the nearest corner store. The first thing he saw upon coming into the store was Karen, standing at the cash register.

"Nathan!" exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

"Mom?" Nathan cursed his stupid luck that his mother would be here, of all places. "What are you doing here?"

"We ran out of paper napkins at the cafe. But I believe that the more appropriate question would be what are _you _doing here?"

"Um," Nathan tried to make something up on the spot. "School let out early today. Emergency with one of the teachers."

"Don't lie to me, Nate," Karen said simply.

"Um, Ms.?" The person behind the register asked. "Are you getting those napkins or not?"

"Oh, right, sorry," Karen stammered. "Here."

Karen paid for the napkins and left the store, Nathan following her.

"Alright, Mom," Nate said. "I'll tell you the truth, but you have to promise not to yell at me."

"First things first, I think that I better call the school and tell them that you'll be out for the rest of the day. Then we'll go somewhere and talk."

"Thanks, Mom," Nathan said. "For calling the school."

"You're not off the hook," Karen said. "I'm just doing this so I don't get a bunch of calls from the secretary, wondering where you are."

A couple of minutes later, Karen and Nathan were sitting in a booth at McDonald's, eating burgers and fries.

"Alright, Nathan," Karen said. "Tell me everything."

"Please don't yell at me until I finish," Nathan said.

"Fine. I'll give you that."

"Well, you see Mom, I did skip one class, with Peyton, but then..." Nathan began. He soon found that when he started talking, he couldn't stop, up until the point where he told Karen everything, even his fight with Peyton. After he finished, Karen looked at him and sighed.

"Wow, Nathan," she said. "I don't even know where to begin."

"Is she going to get full custody of me, Mom?"

"No. I won't let that happen. Whatever Deb told you, she's out of her mind. "

"But she sounded set on it..."

"Listen to me, Nathan," Karen leaned forward close to him. "I don't know what rights she has legally, we'll have to ask your father, but she is not getting you. I don't know why you even believed her."

"I don't know, I just..."

"Baby," Karen said. "You're my son. I love you very much. So next time, instead of freaking out and running away from school, can you just talk to me about it first?"

"Fine," Nathan smiled. "That could be a smarter plan."

"Now," Karen said. "Back to the topic of you skipping class. This is where I yell at you for making such a poor choice."

"I was hoping we could skip that part."

"Not a chance. Nathan, what were you thinking?"

"I don't know, I just wanted to hang out with Peyton..."

"You could have picked a better time. Oh, I could go on, but I'll leave it at that for now. But I do believe that your behaviour warrants a weekend of being grounded. Today's Friday, so until Monday, no parties, no girlfriend, no rivercourt."

"Fine," Nathan said. "Better than being adopted by Deb. And Peyton won't want to go on that date with me anyways."

Karen laughed gently. "Come on, Nate. I'll let you go home for the rest of the day, simply because I already called the school. Plus, we could use this time to talk about stuff."

"Alright, Mom," Nathan stood up. The two of them started walking towards the car, Karen with her arm around Nathan. "I love you."

"I love you too, baby," Karen said. Inside however, she was screaming. She hadn't told Nathan anything, so as not to scare him, but she was freaking out just as much as he was. _Deb wanted custody of Nathan? Could she actually sue for that?_ _What would happen now?_


	9. Phone Calls

AN: Happy New Year's Everybody! I hope everyone has a great 2010!

Karen and Nathan went home for the rest of the day. Nathan even helped Karen make dinner, which wasn't an ordinary occurrence. They talked about Nathan's fight with Peyton, basketball, Nathan's grades... The only subject they were clearly avoiding was Deb. Karen didn't want to talk about Deb because she didn't want to let it slip that she was unsure of what rights Deb had when it came to Nathan and Nathan didn't want to talk about Deb because he was kind of embarrassed about being scared by her. Either way, mother and son talked about everything _but _Deb. At seven, Luke came in from practice, followed by Dan who had driven him on his way home from work.

"Nathan, can I talk to you? Now." Dan said upon coming in.

"Dan, if this is about practice... I picked Nathan up from school today."

"Are you sick?" Dan asked, feeling Nate's forehead.

"No, not exactly."

"Dan, I'll explain everything after dinner. Just believe me in that there was a good excuse for taking Nathan away from practice."

"Did something happen?"

"Kind of... Dan, please. We'll talk in private."

"Alright," Dan said. "When will dinner be ready?"

"Soon. Nathan, thank you for your help, but from here on now, it's kind of a one person job. Why don't you go upstairs and call Peyton. Come down in fifteen minutes to set the table?"

"I'm not calling Peyton!" Nathan exclaimed.

"As you wish. But I think that you should," Karen looked at Nathan.

Nathan sighed and went upstairs to his room. His entry to his room was blocked by Luke, though, who was obviously waiting for him.

"Where were you?" he asked as soon as he saw Nathan. "You weren't in class, you weren't at practice. I asked Peyton and she said that she didn't know and didn't care. Dad was freaking out the whole way home from practice. Do you have a death wish or something?"

"This time, I'm actually not worried, because I have bigger problems at hand. I skipped math with Peyton. We were going to go to the plaza, but we ran into Deb about a hundred feet from the school?"

"Crazy lady who gave you up, Deb?"

"Yeah. And she said that she's staying in Tree Hill now and that she's going to sue for full custody of me."

"For real?"

"Apparently, yeah.. Anyways, after she left, I kind of freaked out and had a fight with Peyton. She went back to school while I went to the plaza. And guess who I saw at the corner store, buying napkins?"

"Deb?"

"No, you idiot, Mom!"

"Did she kill you on the spot?"

"As you can clearly see, no. She grounded me for the weekend for skipping school, though."

"I'd say you were lucky it was just the weekend. But what about Deb?"

"Mom said that she was crazy and that she didn't know what she was talking about. She said that she won't get custody of me. But, Luke, I think that she just said that to calm me down."

"Why do you think that?"

"Because Deb is my biological mother. If she wants custody of me, she can sue for it, right?"

"I guess. But that doesn't mean she'll get it."

"I don't know, Luke. I'm kind of worried. I mean, what if I have to live with her?"

"She might have just said that to freak you out."

"I don't know..."

"And even if she does sue, you have a choice of who you want to live with, you know."

"I guess."

"Listen, Nathan," Lucas asked. "Why did you fight with Peyton?"

"Cause I told her that she didn't know anything."

"You were a dumbass. You know how hard she takes everything."

"I know. I guess I'll call her and apologize."

"You should," Lucas said as he turned around to go. "And Nathan?"

"You're not going to get taken away by Deb. It just can't happen."

"OK, Luke," Nathan smiled. "That's good."

Nathan sat on his bed for a while and then picked up the phone to call Peyton.

"Hello?" Peyton picked up after the third ring.

"It's me," Nathan said.

"Yeah, I know, I have Caller-ID. What is it, Nathan?"

"I just wanted to say I'm sorry... for everything."

"Nathan, this is getting really old. You keep on doing stupid shit and you keep on apologizing. I forgive you and then you do it all over again. "

"I know, but I'm really sorry this time. Deb said that..."

"Nathan, I'm tired of this."

"So, are you saying that you want to break up?" Nathan held his breath.

"I didn't say that, Nathan," Peyton sighed. "I'm just saying that it's becoming too crazy with your family, basketball and all of your other issues. Not to mention your constant anger outbursts. Maybe we should take a break, or something."

"But, this is a hard time for me, Peyton."

"I know. So how about we just stay friends for now and then when you have taken the time to figure things out, we'll get started up again?"

"No. Either we stay a couple or we break up for good."

"Nathan, if you're going to be like this..."

"You're the one who's being a bitch!"

"That's it, Nathan," Peyton said. "I have taken about as much as I can stand. We're over."

"Fine!" Nathan yelled into the phone. "Go hook up with someone else, if that's what you want!" But Peyton had hung up already.

It took Nathan a while to process what had happened. When he realized how bad he had made things this time, he punched his wall several times, turning his knuckle red. Just as he was about to punch his wall another time, he heard his name being called. Karen was calling him down for dinner. Nathan sighed, got himself together and headed downstairs.

After Nathan went upstairs, Karen told Dan everything. How Nathan had skipped class and ran into Deb near the school. How she had grounded him and how now she was genuinely worried about Deb suing for custody.

"Wow," Dan said. "That's a lot of new information."

"Tell me about it," Karen said.

"One thing, though. How come whenever you ground him, he takes it so well and whenever I ground him a screaming match ensues?"

"I don't know, Dan. I don't yell at him like you do? But do you really think that this is the most important thing right now?"

"No, of course not. I was just wondering. Karen, see this is exactly why I didn't want Nathan talking to Deb."

"I hadn't thought of that, before. But, Dan, do you think that she'll really sue for custody?"

"If she does, she'll be in for a hell of a fight. Besides, Nathan has a choice in this, doesn't he?"

"Probably. I'm not really sure how it all works."

"Kare, don't worry," Dan tried to calm his wife down. "She didn't even file for custody yet. She could have just been scaring Nathan."

"It's just the fact, that she gave birth to him, you know? This gives her insane priority. She could make it look like we took him away from her."

"Karen, don't worry," Dan said again. "No one's taking Nathan away from us."

"I know," Karen said, taking a deep breath. "It's just the idea of him being taken away that's so terrifying."

"If that's what you're worried about, you can relax. I'll do whatever's possible to keep Deb as far away from our family as possible."

"Thanks, Dan," Karen smiled. "I love you."

"I love you too, Karen," Dan said.

"Dinner's getting cold," Karen realized. "Lucas, Nathan! Come down for dinner!"

Lucas and Nathan came down pretty soon after being called.

"Here, help me set the table," Karen said, giving Lucas four plates and putting a salad bowl into Nathan's hands. "Nathan, what happened to your hand?"

"Oh, um... I hurt it."

"We can see that, son," Dan said. "How did you hurt it?"

"Punching the wall," Nathan replied quietly. "I was kind of angry at Peyton."

"Did you call her?" Karen asked.

"Yeah..." Nathan stalled, unwilling to share all the details. "We kind of broke up."

"What?" Lucas looked at him. "I thought you were going to _make up_.

"She was being a bitch..." Nathan stopped when he saw Karen shooting him angry looks. "Anyways, I don't want to talk about it right now."

"Alright, Nathan," Karen said. "I think that what you need is some time to come to terms with all of this. If you ever want to talk, honey, I'm there."

"Thanks, Mom," Nathan said and the four of them sat down for dinner.

"Great dinner, Mom," Luke said.

"Thanks, sweetie."

"About Deb..." Dan finally mentioned the elephant in the room. "Nathan, you see, that's why I didn't want you talking to her..."

"Dad, can we just drop it? I can't deal with this right now!" Nathan snapped.

"Watch it, Nathan," Dan glared at him. "If I were you, I'd change your tone."

"If _I _were you..." Nathan started, but Karen interrupted him.

"Can both of you just leave it alone? Not fight?"

"I wasn't..." someone said, but at that moment, the phone rang. Karen picked it up.

"Hello? Yes, this is she."

"Who is it, honey?" Dan asked, but Karen waved her hand at him.

"What? Why are you calling here?" Karen's face turned white.

"Mom? Who is it?" Nathan asked.

Karen covered the phone with her hand and mouthed "It's Deb!" to her husband and sons.


	10. At the Rivercourt

Nathan, Lucas, Karen and Dan stood in shock for a few minutes. Not saying anything, they just looked at one another. Karen was the first one to get herself together and pick up the phone in her hands.

"What do you want?" she asked.

"I want to talk to Nathan," Deb said over the phone.

"Over my dead body. There is no way I'm letting you near him again."

"As far as I know, I have a legal right to talk to my own son."

"As far as I know, you gave up that right when you gave him up. In fact..."

Karen stopped talking for a second because she heard Dan call her name. She looked over at her husband and saw Dan beckoning at Nathan, who sat in his chair, looking straight ahead.

"Nathan, it'd be best if you and Lucas went upstairs for a while. I need to finish this conversation in private," Karen looked at them.

Normally, Nathan or Lucas would have complained about the fact that they were being sent to their rooms. This time, however, they both just got up and went up the stairs. They paused in the spot between their two rooms, as usual. Lucas looked at his younger brother.

"You want to talk, Nate?"

"Not really."

"You never want to talk about what's bothering you, Nathan. That's not good."

Nathan shrugged, not really saying anything.

"How do you feel about Mom talking to Deb right now?"

"Since when did you become a shrink? You know, Luke, I get enough of this from Mom and Peyton. I don't need it from you."

"I was just trying to help, Nate. Don't go all psycho on me."

"Who's going psycho on who? You're the one acting like an asshole!"

"Nathan, I can totally see why Peyton broke up with you."

"Go to hell!"

One thing that Lucas knew how to do better than Nathan was to walk away before things went too far. So to avoid a full-out fight, he went to his room, without saying anything else.

Nathan stood in the hallway, fuming. He was mad at Lucas, of course, but mostly he was mad at life. Why were things going so crappy for him nowadays? Why did Deb have to show up now, after all these years? Why couldn't he have either known from the beginning or never have known at all? Why did he have to yell at Peyton? All these thoughts were spinning around in Nathan's head. He didn't know anything anymore. One thing was certain, however- he couldn't stay home for another moment. He had to go... somewhere. Anywhere. Screw being grounded for the moment. So Nathan went downstairs and left the house through the back door, so his parents wouldn't notice. Then he went to the only place he could think of... the rivercourt.

There, he threw the basketball around, trying not to think of his problems. His phone rang a couple of times, but he ignored it, not wanting to talk to anyone. Nathan felt a little better in the fresh air, almost forgetting what made him come here. All of a sudden, however, he saw a girl, somewhere in the distance coming near him.

"Brooke!" he called.

"Hey, Nathan," she replied. "Is Lucas here?"

"No, he's at home."

"Oh. I was just looking for him. Anyways, he's not here and I should go."

"Hold on, Brooke. How much did Peyton tell you?"

"About what?" Brooke looked at him.

"Come on, Brooke. You tell each other everything."

"Fine," Brooke gave up. "She told me that you were an ass to her and that you broke up."

"I expected worse."

"Nathan, it's not like I know the full story or anything, but I think that you should apologize to her."

"A, everyone keeps telling me that and b, I already tried that. Didn't work out so great."

"Really and truly apologize. Not just saying you're sorry and then doing the same thing a few days later."

"I'm not so good at that, though. I just keep on messing up."

"Then maybe you need to work on not messing up. Anyways, I need to talk to Lucas. So, is it OK if I go home with you?"

"Um, actually, that might not be a good idea. I'm not really supposed to be here right now."

"So you snuck out?"

"Yeah."

"God, Nathan, you do keep on messing up!"

"You see what I mean?"

"Luckily, though, you can always fix it. Go home, talk to your parents and tell Lucas to call me."

"Fine," Nathan said and watched Brooke disappear again. He sat down on the gravel and contemplated for a few minutes. He could go home and face his mom, his dad and his brother. Or he could stay here and do... nothing. Both choices sucked ass. Picking the better of the two evils, however, he picked up his phone and his basketball and headed homeward. It took him about twenty minutes to get home. As he reached his driveway, he noticed that it was almost dark. He went around back and tried to open the door. It was locked, so Nathan searched in his pocket for his key. It wasn't there.

"Shit," Nathan swore under his breath. Now he had no choice- he had to ring the doorbell. His only hope was that Lucas would answer. Then again, with the ways he left things, it was unlikely that his brother would cover for him. One way or another, his days were numbered, but he couldn't stand outside next to the house, doing nothing. Nathan braced himself for the music and rang the doorbell.

Karen opened. Well, it was a bit better than ending up face to face with Dan.

"Where have you been?" she asked simply.

"Out. I'm sorry, Mom, I just had to get out."

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah... I was just down at the rivercourt."

"Come here, Nathan," Karen said, hugging him. "We were worried."

"Yeah, right."

"Believe it or not, Nathan Scott, you cannot disappear from the house for two hours without anyone noticing."

"Two hours?"

"Well, yeah. How long did you think you were gone?"

Nathan shrugged. This was news to him. It didn't seem like two hours have gone by.

"And you don't answer your phone! _And _you're supposed to be grounded!"

"Mom, I'm really sorry. And you can ground me again or whatever. Please, just don't lecture me. My head is killing me."

Karen sighed. "I know that the situation is hard for you, at the moment. But that does not give you the right to leave the house without telling anyone where you're going."

"I'm sorry, Mom."

"Nathan, I don't need an apology. I need you to tell me what's wrong."

"Well, I guess we can talk."

"Good," Karen smiled. "We can't keep standing, here, though. Let's go, we'll talk in your room."

"Nathan," Dan said as he and Karen entered the house. "Where were you?"

"At the rivercourt."

"At the rivercourt? While we were considering calling the police? Nathan... I don't even know where to begin."

"I'm sorry, I just needed to get out..."

"Nathan, I am tired of your fake-ass apologies. You have any ideas how worried we were?"

"Dan, Nathan and I are going to talk for a while," Karen said. "About Deb also."

"Fine," Dan replied. "Nathan, we'll come back to this."

On the way up the stairs, Nathan ran into Lucas.

"You're back," he observed.

"Disappointed?"

"Extremely."

"Alright, alright, Luke," Karen said. "Nathan, let's go."


	11. Making Things Right

AN: Special thanks to everyone who reviewed!!! You guys make my day.

"OK, Nate," Karen said as they walked into Nathan's room and sat down on his bed. "Start from the beginning."

"Why did Deb call?" Nathan looked at his mother.

"Nathan, maybe we should talk about you first, then I'll tell you about Deb."

"No, Mom, tell me now. Why did she call?"

"Alright, Nathan, Deb called to say that she is suing us to gain custody of you. She wants legal rights as a parent."

"What?!"

"I know..." Karen looked down sadly. "Don't worry, though... She won't get custody of you."

"At first you told me that she wouldn't even sue us!"

"Nate, it was a shock to us too... But you do have a choice, you know. You can tell the judge that you do not want to live with her."

"Judge?"

"Yeah. She's insisting on a trial."

"Mom!" Nathan tried to take this all in. Normally he would have gotten angry at his mother. But now.... he was so tired that he couldn't even feel anger. Just fear. "What's going to happen now?"

"You're going to stay right here," Karen said with an air of finality. "You're not going anywhere, Nathan. Deb can't just march in her after sixteen years and snatch you away from us."

Nathan just nodded, unable to say anything else.

"We'll discuss the details later, when you're feeling better," Karen looked at him. "Just don't worry, okay? You're not going anywhere."

Nathan continued nodding and staring straight ahead.

"Nathan, I know that you don't want to talk right now, but I need to know this. Why were you down at the rivercourt?"

"I just needed to get away. Deb called, I had a fight with Peyton... Things just added up."

"So you snuck out of the house?"

"You wouldn't have let me go if I had asked..."

"Yes, I would have," Karen sighed. "If you would have talked to me like you are now, instead of running off."

"I just thought..."

"Oh Nathan," Karen looked at her youngest. "I know things are hard for you right now. But believe me, they will get better."

"How, Mom? Things just seem to be getting worse. Deb is suing for custody."

"Nathan, if I were you, I wouldn't even worry about that. It's out of the question that you go live with Deb."

"I guess. I still don't want to go to court, though."

"Me neither. But I guess we have to do that to get Deb out of our lives once and for all, huh?"

"OK," Nathan sighed and kept on looking at the floor. The two of them sat like that for a while, neither of them saying anything. Finally Karen broke down.

"Nathan, talk to me. I hate to see you like this. Just tell me what's wrong, please."

"What's right, Mom? Deb wants to adopt me, Peyton dumped me, Luke's pissed off and you and Dad are going to ground me for ever for sneaking out."

"Oh, honey," Karen sighed. "I know that I keep on repeating myself, but things will get better. Deb will get out of the picture, you'll make up with Peyton..." Karen stopped when she saw a tear running down Nathan's face. It broke her heart to see him crying.

"Baby," she said, pulling him into a hug. "Sh..."

"Peyton, dumped me," Nathan cried, everything that had happened between them finally settling in. "She dumped me and it's all my fault."

Karen rubbed comforting circles in Nathan's back. "Sh, Baby, it's okay. It's okay, Nate."

Nathan sniffled, while Karen continued whispering soft things to her youngest son.

"Baby, Peyton's a nice girl. And if you talk to her, she'll listen. So call her tomorrow."

"Thanks, Mom," Nathan sat up, embarrassed and wiped his eyes.

"I love you, Nate."

"I love you too, Mom. Mom?"

"Yeah?"

"You won't tell anyone that I cried, right?"

"No, Nate," Karen laughed. "Our secret."

"Mom?" Nathan suddenly asked.

"Yes, Nate?"

"I'm sorry for sneaking out of the house while I was grounded."

"It's not okay that you did that, Nathan. But I do understand that you have a lot to deal with right now, so I'll go easy on you. You'll do a week of dishes. O.K.?"

"Fine," Nathan grumbled. "But that means that Luke gets a few days off!"

"As I recall, Luke didn't sneak out of the house," Karen tapped her son's arm lightly. "If you want to go there.

"No... But Mom, one more thing. I know this is asking for a lot and stuff, but could I please go over to Peyton's house tonight? Just for ten minutes?"

"Nathan, it's now eight o'clock and you're supposed to be grounded. When I said call her, I meant_ call her._"

"I know, Mom. But please can you let me go? I really need to talk to her and apologize to her face."

Karen sighed. "Fine, Nate. Only because I love you, I'll let you go. You have twenty minutes, tops. If you're not back by then, your father will come over there and pick you up. And that could get embarrassing."

Karen was barely finished speaking when Nathan ran over to her and gave her a hug. "Thanks, Mom! You're the best!"

"Be back soon," Karen looked after him as Nathan raced downstairs, but Nathan was out the door and running towards Peyton's house before his mother could change his mind and his father could ask him where he was going. He was determined to make things right with Peyton. He liked her very much, after all, he just acted like a jerk for the last couple of days.

Nathan reached Peyton's house pretty quickly. It was while he was knocking on the door with all of his might that he realized that he didn't know what he was going to say to her. He had come over here by impulse, because he wanted to make right what was wrong. Now that he was there, however, he had no idea where to start, how to even get Peyton to listen to him.

He didn't have a lot of time to really think things over, though, because in about thirty seconds Peyton came and opened the door. She stood there motionless, looking at Nathan.

"Peyton..." Nathan started.

"If you've come over here to apologize, Nathan Scott, don't bother."

"Please, Peypey, just listen to me," Nathan begged.

Peyton looked at Nathan and sighed.

"Come in," she said.


	12. A Break from Things

"I came here to talk," Nathan said awkwardly as he followed Peyton inside the house.

"I figured that much. Make this quick, Nathan, because I have to leave the house to see someone in about twenty minutes."

"See someone?" Nathan asked, obviously surprised.

"Yeah, Nathan. I have a hot date with my grandma. She wanted me to drop some stuff off over at her house."

"Oh."

"Yeah, oh," Peyton sat down on a kitchen stool and Nathan did the same. "But, whatever. What I do on my Friday nights is my own business. What did you want to talk to me about?"

"Well, I just wanted to say that I'm sorry. For the way I've treated you these last few days and stuff."

"Nathan, save it. We've been over this already."

"I know," Nathan sighed. "But I mean it this time."

Peyton gave him a strange look.

"Not that I didn't mean it last time!" he hastily corrected. "It's just that… OK, Peyton, I know that I mess up a lot and that I'm not exactly the perfect boyfriend. I probably wouldn't deserve you no matter what I did. But…"

"But what?" Peyton asked quietly, looking into the space between them.

"Never mind. It won't change anything."

"But what?" Peyton persisted, staring ahead of her even more intensely.

"But… I'm crazy about you. Ever since I first met you in sixth grade History, I couldn't stop thinking about you. And I know that I mess up over and over and over again and that you often feel like I don't care about you. That's not true. I'm crazy about you; any shit that I may get into, has nothing to do with how I feel about you, it has to do with my own stupidity…"

"You're not stupid…" Peyton said softly, still in shock that Nathan, who was never particularly good with words, could say something so meaningful in so short a time.

"I know that I don't deserve it," Nathan continued. "But I would really, really, really appreciate it if you even considered taking me back. Please, Peyton?"

Peyton looked at Nathan for a few seconds and sighed. A hint of a smile began to spread across her face.

"OK," she finally said. "I'll give you one more chance, Nathan. Only because I really like you too."

Nathan came over to Peyton and gave her a big hug.

"So we're good? We're back together?"

"Yeah," Peyton smiled, hugging him back. "I'm sorry if I wasn't that understanding of your situation. I know that you're going through a lot right now."

"You don't have to apologize…" Nathan smiled. "I should. So, would you like to go to dinner or something with me sometime?"

"Sure. I'm not doing anything this weekend."

"Uh, this weekend's not so good," Nathan shifted from foot to foot. "I'm kind of grounded for skipping school and there's some stuff I need to figure out at home…"

"If you're grounded, then what are you doing here?"

"My mom let me come for like twenty minutes. Speaking of which, I have to go really soon."

"Yeah, I should start heading out too. But I'll call you, Nathan. I'm happy that we're back together."

"Me too," Nathan smiled and began his trek back home. He felt pretty good after making things right with Peyton. His mom had been right all along- talking with her was the right thing to do. Going home, Nathan felt better than he had felt in days.

It didn't take Nathan that long to reach his house. Once there, he took out his key and entered the house. As soon as he came in he saw Dan and Karen standing in the living room talking about something. It looked like they were fighting.

"Hey," Nathan said as he came in. "What happened?"

"Nothing, honey, we were just talking. How was Peyton's?"

"We made up," Nathan smiled.

"That's great," Karen smiled.

"Yeah Son, that's great," Dan said, which surprised Nathan. Saying things like this wasn't exactly something that he did all that often.

"Thanks, Mom, Dad."

"Honey, your father and I have to finish talking, so why don't you head up to your room for a bit. I know that we didn't exactly eat dinner today, but if you're hungry there's some cold pizza in the fridge."

"Sure," Nathan, who was never one to pass up on food, said. "Hey Mom, am I still grounded for the weekend?"

Karen gave her son one of her _Mom _looks. "What do you think, Nathan Scott?"

"I think that yes, I still am."

"That's right. You're lucky I didn't extend your punishment for that little stunt you pulled today."

"Yeah, Nathan, you are lucky it was your mother and not me that grounded you," Dan joined in. "And you're doubly lucky that she let you go to Peyton's house. Because if it had been me…"

"OK, OK," Nathan said, knowing his limits. Not wanting to anger either of his parents, he went into the kitchen and opened the fridge to look for the pizza Karen had talked about.

"Hey," Lucas greeted him from the other side of the kitchen. "You're back."

"Yeah, I'm back. Hey, have you seen the pizza?"

"Um, yeah. I kind of finished that."

"Great, Luke. Way to save me some."

"Hey, there's still some of the flatbread stuff Mom likes left."

"Yeah, thanks," Nathan said sarcastically. "That tastes _so _good."

"Sorry, I didn't know you'd want it."

"Whatever, Luke," Nathan said. "I'll just have cereal or something."

"Listen, Nate, I'm sorry."

"It's fine. It's just pizza."

"Not for just that. For butting in when you needed to be alone."

"I've already said this to Peyton today, but you shouldn't be the one apologizing, Luke."

"So, you and Peyton are cool?"

"Yeah. She's not mad anymore."

"That's good."

"Yep."

The two brothers stared at each other for a while in awkward silence.

"OK, Luke," Nathan finally spoke. "I've been apologizing a lot today, so I might as well apologize to you too. I'm sorry I freaked- I was in a bad mood and you were just in my way."

"I figured as much. I'm not mad or anything. You're just psycho like that."

"Hey!"

"I'm just joking. But, seriously, Nate?"

"Yeah?"

"I know that you're going through a lot and stuff. But you do know you can talk to me when you don't want to talk to Mom, right?"

"Yeah, I know," Nathan said quietly. "Thanks, Luke."

"No problem," Luke said. He waited for Nathan to finish pouring the milk into his cereal and the two boys went into the living room to watch some T.V. Karen and Dan joined them.

"Hey Mom?" Nathan asked after she sat down. "What's going on with Deb?"

"Well, the trial's still on. She's not backing down. But, Nate, let's not talk about this now. There is no way she'll get custody of you if you don't want it yourself, so you have nothing to worry about."

"Your mother's right, Son," Dan added, putting an arm around Nathan's shoulders.

Nathan nodded. He was happy to get an evening away from talking about Deb and the trial. He understood that the whole thing was far from over, but for now, it could be put aside. That night, the Scott family just watched T.V. together.


	13. Deb Comes Back

The next morning, Karen decided to let both boys sleep in while she prepared breakfast for Dan and herself. Usually, when one of them is grounded, she makes him get up early and do some chores. This time around, however, she was being pretty easy on Nathan, simply because she was worried about the upcoming ordeal. She didn't want to be too hard on him and make him think that life with Deb could be better. Not that that was likely to happen. Deb was practically a stranger to Nathan. Besides, she needed some time to talk to Dan, before the boys were awake and could overhear them.

"Dan," she asked while pouring them two bowls of oatmeal. "What's going to happen with this trial?"

"Is that still on?" Dan asked lazily, sceptically eyeing the oatmeal that she had poured him.

"Yes, it's still on, _Dan_," Karen looked him in the eye. "What'd you think, that Deb would forget about it and move away again?"

"I'm sorry, it just seems so unreal. I mean, come on, her suing us?" Dan moved his spoon around in his bowl. "Come on, Karen, oatmeal? That's not real food."

"Now you sound like one of the boys. For the record, oatmeal is extremely good for you. And about the trial, it's not that crazy. She could get custody of him. After all, it's not like she signed an agreement when she gave him up. We just kind of agreed on it at the time. You hear about this all the time-she could make it seem like we had kidnapped him."

"Karen, he's sixteen years old. If she didn't want him back for all these years, she doesn't suddenly get the right to have him now. I'm not even worried about it, because the whole thing's so silly."

"I guess… We still need to hire a lawyer, though."

"We'll find one. That guy who we hired when that moron sued the car shop was pretty good."

"_Dan_. This is a different kind of case."

"I'm joking, Kare. We'll find someone."

"OK…" Karen trailed off when she saw Nathan come into the kitchen.

"What's for breakfast?" he asked.

"Oatmeal," Karen laughed when she saw Nathan make a face and reach for the cereal. "Where's your brother?"

"Luke's still sleeping. I could go wake him up, if you want."

"Let him sleep," Dan told him. "Besides, he didn't miss practice like some people. So you, my friend, are going to go for a run with your old man. I wouldn't want you to get out of shape."

"_Dad._"

"_Nathan."_

"I thought I was grounded…"

"You are. But you're allowed to go for runs, especially since I'll be right there with you."

"I'll be sure to take you up on that, Dad," Nathan said sarcastically. "Mom?"

"Sorry Nathan, but I actually agree that a run might help clear your head," Karen nodded. "So eat up and go on… But Dan, not too long, OK?"

Dan nodded his head and looked at Nathan. "I'll meet you at the door in twenty minutes."

Nathan pretended to sulk even though a run didn't sound so bad right now. He just hated the fact that he _had _to do it, that he had no choice. That's the kind of person he was-he had to have a say in everything that came his way.

Thirty minutes later, Dan and Nathan were out their door and jogging around their neighbourhood. They were talking about none other than… basketball.

"Do you feel ready for the next game?" he asked.

"I guess… I hadn't really been thinking about basketball for a while now," Nathan admitted.

"I understand, son. You've had a lot going on. But you do know, that the whole trial thing is a joke, right? Not going to happen."

"I know, but still… It's kind of a lot to deal with."

"I know…" Dan paused to catch his breath. "Nathan…"

Dan stopped midway because he saw a very familiar face coming his way. It was Deb. He had half a mind to tell Nathan to turn around and go the other way before he noticed her, but he was too late, because from the look in Nathan's eyes, it was obvious that he had seen her.

"Dad?"

"Hello, Dan," Deb said, coming closer. "Out for a run with Nathan, I see."

"Damnit Deb, why do you keep on appearing out of nowhere all of a sudden?" Dan looked her in the eye. "I don't see you for sixteen years and now you decide to come back into all of our lives?"

"It's a free country. Besides, it's not like I was following you. Our paths just crossed."

"Well then, we were just leaving. Come on, Nathan," Dan motioned to Nate, who was standing a few feet away, looking awkward.

"Not so fast. Now that you're here, I want to talk to Nathan."


	14. Court Date

Dan hesitated a moment, unsure of how to proceed. Deb used that moment to call out to Nathan.

"Nathan," she said. "Remember what we talked about?"

"How could I forget?"

"So, have you given it some thought?"

"I already told you, Deb. I don't want to live with you. I don't want to talk with you. I don't even want to acknowledge that you exist."

"Is that any way to treat your mother? I did give birth to you, Nathan."

"But you chose to give him up when he was a baby," Dan interjected.

"Dan, I was young. I'm looking to correct that mistake now."

"By forcing him to live with you? Nathan doesn't want that."

"Nathan doesn't know what he wants," Deb observed.

"I know that I don't want to go live with a stranger!" Nate burst out.

"The only reason I'm a stranger to you is because your parents never took the time to tell you the truth. Anyways, I was hoping we could settle this peacefully, but you leave me no choice. I'm proceeding with the lawsuit."

"There's no way you'll win. Your claim's frivolous," Dan told her.

"How about we let the judge decide that?" Deb said and with that, she turned the other way and was soon out of sight.

Dan turned towards Nathan. "Sorry you had to see that, son. But don't worry. There is no way she will win. It's ridiculous."

"I don't know, Dad… She sounded pretty convincing. I mean, what if I am forced to live with her?"

"I'll see to it that that doesn't happen. Come on, Nate, let's go home. Besides, you do have a say in the matter, you know. You can tell the judge that you do not want to live with Deb."

"I guess…" Nathan sighed. "I'm just kind of freaked out."

"I know, son," Dan looked at him seriously. "But it'll be fine. I promise."

They went home.

Nathan spent the rest of the day in the house, extremely bored. While Lucas got to hang out with Brooke at the mall, he had to stay at home and help Karen out with the laundry. After that, he played a couple of video games, watched a game of golf on T.V. and even got a head start on his homework. The latter proved how bored he was. He made a mental note to never get caught skipping school again. Later that night, he came up to Karen.

"Mom, I'm so bored."

"Sorry, sweetie. That is the price you have to pay for skipping class."

"But, Mom… Maybe you can shorten my punishment… just a little bit…"

"No, honey, no buts. You're already lucky I only grounded you for the weekend. You're going to have to serve your time like a model prisoner."

"Fine," Nate said. Usually he would have argued further, but this time he realized that it was pretty much pointless.

That is how Nathan spent the most boring weekend of his life. The only good thing about it was when it ended. He was even excited for school to come, since it meant that he would get to see Peyton. Monday came and went. All talk of Deb was put aside until dinnertime that night. That is when Dan mentioned the elephant in the room.

"I have bad news," he said. "I got this notice to appear in court from Deb and the court date's next Monday. As in, a week from now."

"What?" Lucas asked. "That quickly?"

"I guess so," Dan replied. "But in a way, it's better to have it over with sooner rather than later."

"Wow, I never thought that it would actually come to this," Nathan said.

"Me neither," Karen agreed. "But what can we do? We'll just have to go through with it."

With that, the Scott family began preparing for the court appearance next week.


End file.
